Saturday, December 12, 2009

More peeks at the Christmas decorations: Bathroom, Kitchen, Dining Room and Bedrooms

I've mentioned before that I have not decorated for Christmas for two years now.My decorations have grace a small California 1940's bungalow, a Dallas and a Houston Neo-Eclectic style house, with elegant crown moulding and tile work.

Now a mountain side 50's style ranch house: This house called for some entirely new thinking!Especially since for the last 10 years I have been decorating with gold and white old world motif, with cranberry and dark green accents. That was perfect for then...but that was then and this is now, or shall I say, now is 1954 all over again!

How to decorate a 1950's pink bathroom at Christmas time (or Save the Pink Bathrooms Christmas Edition)

A wooden angel candle holder that I've had since childhood fits in nicely in the pink bathroom.

I added glass pebbles atop the pot's soil to dress up the Aunt Lu begonia that has travelled from humid Houston patio to snowy SLC bathroom.

The other side of the sink has a small tree that I purchased in Pennsylvania years ago. The pink was always a stretch in my decorating before as I preferred burgundy, or red and green, or gold tones.

Who would have known would be perfect in a pink bathroom, in my future, when it caught my eyes all those years ago.

The hall closet right outside the bathroom door:

Cabinet knobs: a handy place to install a few decorations.

Down the hall we go, and make a right turn into the kitchen....

The kitchen wall where I usually display Alaskan prints now has small quilts and a wooden piece that my mom painted for me. Twist Rudolph's nose and his theme song jingles out via a small music box.

Yes...the kids loved doing that when they were young.

We've used the same Advent calendar for years, as it has the Bible verses in each window. I'm noticing more and more "Advent" calendars out there that have nothing to do with the Savior's birth at all. That makes bothers me a bit.

Throw in a bit of construction paper and glitter art created by a very young son many years ago, and the wall is done!

I've switched out my spring/summer dishes (save a few serving bowls) for Christmas/winter dishes. My husband's grandfather used to give our family of four $20 for Christmas gifts. Since I really couldn't figure out what to buy each of us for $5 a piece, I got the idea to instead buy a place setting of Christmas dishes. Every year I added to the collection, and now instead of wondering what we got from Grandpa K., we look at our dishes and remember.

I set my kitchen and dining tables with the dishes as well, as I find it makes it easier to dish up meals when the places are already set AND I've learned that clutter doesn't pile up on the tables that are set.

This is the first year I have used the Avon Cape Cod ruby red bowls and two tiered tray that was handed down to me from a cousin's mother. I never cared for the deep red glass before, but this year the light plays through the pieces and the bright green is a better foil for the color than the typical Christmas colors.

Funny how tastes change...apple green and ruby red work for me this year!

Over my sink...a Christmas picture of two doves in a wreath. It was anniversary gift one year from my parents to me, a December bride.

Much of our Christmas decorations have to do with our wedding...

It has graced many rooms before...but this is the first time it made sense for it to be in my kitchen.

The dining room table...

With a red votive candles surrounding a centerpiece that changes weekly.

The table runner has garnet and lime motif. I've had it for several years...and now the colors really work well whereas before I was not too into it.

During the day the light from the patio door makes the goblets glow.

I've had the ruby goblets since the kids were little and I loved the old fashioned feeling that they gave to every Christmas table.

I also have had plenty of laughs when seeing the goblets in antique stores. No...they were brand new back in the 1980's...

Placing them with the large apple green goblets with the modern swirl design: Another "never

would have" mix that I like very much today!

The greens around the doorway are mixed with white lights and shiny red ornaments. At night it is a magical place to sit as the lights both inside and out all reflect off the glass doors.

Also in the dining area: The Christmas Mice that play beneath a ceramic tree that was an engagement gift from a stranger!

A new mouse was to be found in my childhood Christmas stocking each year...and more mice were given to me on Anniversaries to celebrate events after I was married.

The bride and groom mouse...the graduate mouse...Swedish mouse...each has a reason for being there in the collection.

The large mirror that was over my fireplace in Houston, and was decked in greenery for those years, now sports a simple fabric braided wreath.

Another "this would not make sense" kind of idea that I would have given a thumbs downs to in elegant swanky Houston. Living in the mountains and snow has loosened my sensibilities up for more casual and eclectic arrangements!

The card behind the Holy Family is a creative piece from fellow blogger Dawn...

The hand blown tree was a wedding shower gift, the other pieces have been gathered over the years.

On to the guest room...

Very little is happening in the guest room...just my collection of tiny wooden angels in a brass and glass pyramid case that I acquired in Mexico years ago.

Every Christmas I would get an angel in my Christmas stocking.

I re-mixed my living room decor into the guest room for the duration of the season...and changed out the lamp shade for a more Christmasy look. I might add some greenery later...I love the way greenery looks and more importantly, the way it smells. I'm trying to hold back on greenery a bit otherwise the house starts looking like a Druid Cathedral!

The orange pieces that were accents in the living room now work in the guest room, and keep the bowl of riping persimmons happy.

Oh I so enjoyed the walk about your decorated house. Every item fits so perfectly in it's spot. I think my favorite is still the pink bathroom. The picture above the kitchen sink is so pretty. I got all nostalgic thinking that your anniversary post was the post that triggered something of a kindred spirit in the two of us. Funny how that works.

I'm Jill. I'm a librarian and milliner now living in Salt Lake City with my husband of 37 years and my three shelter adopted cats. I'm 60, was born and expected I would spent my whole life in San Diego, save for two years in Corvallis Oregon in college.
Then beginning in 1997, right after our youngest graduated from high school my husband and I began "empty nesting" on the move. We lived one year in Almenden CA (San Jose area), two years in Dallas TX and eight years on Houston TX before moving Salt Lake City in the fall of 2008.
I love it here, but counting on Heaven being my ultimate hometown! I do hope we will one day be neighbors there?
I have two adult children; a daughter in San Diego and a son (and daughter-in-law) who also live in Salt Lake City; two beloved grandsons, and parents who were born and still live in San Diego, and who read my blog every day.